Using Tech Tools for Quick Formative Assessments

We know that formative assessments inform instruction. Formative assessments help teachers know if students learned what they wanted them to learn. Formative assessments tell teachers if they need to go back and review or reteach materials or if students are ready to move on.

That being said, how do we use technology to help us with formative assessments? There are many technology tools that can be used for formative assessments so teachers need to ask themselves some questions before they decide what tools they should use.

 1) What do I want to know from my students? Am I asking for specific facts/data or do I want them to be able to answer more generalized questions about the topic?
 2) When am I asking them for this information? Am I going to ask at the beginning, middle, or end of class (like an exit ticket)?
 3) Do I want this to be a collaborative effort or do I want students to answer individually?

The formative assessment tool you pick depends on the answers to the above questions and the specific make-up of your class. I've picked five very different formative assessment tools to give you a brief overview of some different options. These are all free tools.

Tool #1: Google Forms

This is a very versatile formative assessment tool that you can use as a quiz or an exit ticket. It gives you the ability to ask multiple choice, short, or long answer questions. Forms will create a spreadsheet of the answers and if it is multiple choice, grade it for you. It is somewhat simple to use. However, if you are asking for paragraph style answers grading can be onerous. Every student must have access to a device to use Google Forms.

Tool #2: Kahoot
Kahoot is a quiz building tool that gamifies the questioning experience. You create your questions ahead of time then students use a game pin to log in to the game to answer the questions. Most students love Kahoot because it is very fast paced and ranks students by how quickly they answer questions correctly. Kahoot now has team mode which means that not every student has to have a device. However, it does not allow for much processing time and quieter students are often intimidated by how intense the gamified competition for correct answers becomes. Also, it only allows for multiple choice questions. The example below is from a student created Kahoot.

Tool #3: Plickers
If Kahoot is too intense for your students or they need more processing time, Plickers is a good alternative. Plickers also has the added advantage of the teacher being the only one who needs a device. With Plickers, you create your list of questions and class lists ahead of time. Students have unique answer cards that have options for A,B,C,D depending on which way they hold them up. The teacher then scans the answer cards using their phone or tablet. (Plickers has the answer cards to download for free from their website.) The computer then quickly calculates which students answered the question correctly or incorrectly and displays it to the teacher (it displays which answer choice they made). The main drawbacks of Plickers is that you can only ask multiple choice or true/false questions and students must have the preprinted answer cards.

Tool #4: EdPuzzle
This tool is specifically for use with videos. EdPuzzle allows you to pause the video and insert questions that students must answer before they can continue the video. EdPuzzle tracks answers, completion of video, and when students watched the video (tracked by the assigned/due date). One nice feature of EdPuzzle is that it works well with Google Classroom. A drawback is that is only for use with video.

Tool #5: Poll Everywhere

Poll Everywhere is an asynchronous collaboration tool that can also be used as a formative assessment. You set up your account, post a question, then enable responses by sharing a unique code to the discussion board. This is a great tool to use when you are asking more open-ended questions and don't mind have students answer more than once. Like many technology tools, however, Poll Everywhere does require that every student have a device.

These five tools are just a small sample of the myriad technology tools available to educators to use as formative assessments. As you are making your decision about which tool to use, remember that different tools are best for different jobs!